Paul Valentine

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Paul has been in Financial Services since 1993 and is one of O’Connor’s longest serving members of the team, having completed more than 25 years with the firm. Starting his career in insurance administration, his attention to detail and keen interest in complex Investments and Pensions gives him the best possible background to lead our Paraplanning team and oversee the company’s, centralised proposition for discretionary fund management portfolios & retirement income.

 

He has been a director of the firm since 2020 and leads the current board in a range of roles including finance, HR as well as managing and overseeing all non-advising support staff. He has a wealth of experience across various roles and is a familiar face to our long-standing clients.

 

Paul is married to Julia with two sons and enjoys swimming, watching football and travelling.

Fran Gould

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Fran joined O’Connor’s in 2014 as our Auto Enrolment Specialist, supporting our corporate clients to manage their employer duties around workplace pensions as well developing the support and advice services for employees. She has since progressed to join the board of Directors and now oversees the sales team whilst supporting her own client bank with investment and retirement matters.

 

Fran is also our vulnerability and consumer duties champion, as well as being qualified as Pension Transfer specialists.

 

When not busy seeing clients, Fran is either treading the boards with her local Amateur dramatic group in Leicester or playing netball.  While she enjoys running she also is wife to Tom and Mum to sons Oskar & Hadley.  She is also loves good food and drinking fabulous gin with friends.

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Louise Tait

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Louise joined O’Connor’s back in 2016 as a trainee paraplanner and has since worked her way up through different roles and is now one of our Financial Advisers and Director at the firm. Louise works with both individual and corporate clients assisting with their financial needs from Retirement Planning to Personal Protection.

 

Louise holds the Diploma in Financial Advice as well as being a pension transfer specialist and is currently working towards becoming chartered.

 

Louise lives with her husband Brett and enjoys spending her time at the gym or out socialising with friends... especially when it involves food.

Steve Kallika

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With the retirement of John Hunter, Steve  joined O’Connor’s to maintain the valued and long term relationships that have been built  over many years. Steve brings with him over 33 years experience  advising clients on retirement, investment and inheritance tax planning .

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Demonstrating Steve’s commitment to professional standards, he  has achieved Chartered Financial Planner status, a qualification at the forefront of the industry. Steve is also a Fellow of the Personal Finance Society.

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Outside of work, Steve lives in Leicestershire with his wife Jayne. He enjoys cycling and the  occasional round of golf when time allows!

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Adam Grundy

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Adam is a Cert CII qualified employee benefits broker who joined the team in April 2022. With 16 years industry experience, he’s on a mission to help employers to implement and promote their benefits in the most effective way possible. His 9 years working for AXA gave him a deep insight into how large insurance companies work which has enabled him to get the best possible outcomes for his clients now that he’s an intermediary.

 

Adam lives with his wife and two tabby cats. He’s obsessed with cooking on his collection of BBQs (all year round), travelling to see the sites and eat the local dishes, and cheering on “the mighty Leicester Tigers” at Welford Road.

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Michelle

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Michelle started her career in financial services in 2015 as an administration apprentice within the wealth department. She completed her Diploma in Financial Advice in 2017, becoming a qualified paraplanner.

 

Michelle joined O’Connors in Summer 2022 as a paraplanner, where she assists the advisers with all things financial planning.

 

Michelle lives with her husband Martin and their two cats. She is an avid reader and loves going to the theatre, especially if there is a musical involved.

Sarah

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Sarah joined O’Connor’s in 2017 as an administrator and now co-ordinates our advice team with supporting our clients with on-going reviews and advice. Sarah has been instrumental in developing our robust and streamlined review process as well as acting as one of the firm’s fire marshals and first aiders.

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Sarah is married and has three children whom she supports with their interests. She loves spending time at the yard with her horses or walking her three dogs, as well as socialising with her friends and enjoying good food with a gin or two.

Ethan

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Ethan joined the team in April 2023, relocating from Bristol to enhance our Corporate client’s support. Ethan’s has a wealth of experience dealing with employee benefits including share plans, his primary focus is keeping employers on track with their employer duties and acts as a primary contact for scheme queries. Ethan is working to expand his knowledge into private medical contracts and other key benefits with ambitions to become a client facing advisor in the future.

 

In his spare time, he enjoys playing football, socialising with friends and returning to Bristol to visit family and friends.

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Stuart

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Stuart worked in General Insurance for 37 years at O’Connor & Co (Insurances) Ltd latterly BHIB Insurance Brokers, working in the Claims Dept; 10 of those years as Claims Manager. Stuart joined O’Connor & Co Financial services in February 2020 on a part time basis as an Administrator, as well as dealing with Health & Safety matters.

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Stuart is married to Jo-Anne and enjoys time spent with his four grown children and three grandchildren, as well as travel, theatre, eating out and socialising with friends.

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Natasha

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Natasha is a key member of the team and has responsibility for the financial of the business, keeping budgets on track, chasing and paying invoices and making sure every penny is accounted for.

 

Heralding from Devon before moving to Leicester to study Fabric Design at De Montfort University, she ended up finding a passion for spreadsheets. Having passed her AAT exams in 2010 Natasha she has worked for a number of SME business before moving to O’Connor’s in 2023 following the retirement of the previous Financial Director. She has a keen eye for details and spent a lot of her first 12 months putting in processes to simplify payroll, expenses and accountancy practices.

 

When Natasha isn’t at work, she lives with her husband Khristian and her 2 daughter Florence & Violet. She loves a baking, gardening, making and crafting and regularly graces the office with a culinary treat.  She enjoys socialising with friends and good food when she isn’t on Mum duty.

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